LAWJOBS.COM S.F. BAY AREA JOB LISTINGS

April 20, 2010

Sonoma County: Impudent in Face of Dying Gay Man and His Partner

[Cynthia Foster]

An elderly gay man from Sebastopol is alleging that Sonoma County officials demonstrated a pretty shocking lack of compassion toward him when his partner of 20 years fell seriously ill and was admitted to a hospital.

According to the NYT's The Bay Area blog, Clay Greene was denied his rights as executor when county officials sought and were granted conservatorship after his partner, Harold Scull, became incapacitated. The county then proceeded, according to the complaint filed last month, to auction off the couples' belongings (over $500k worth) "and at one point referred to Mr. Greene as Mr. Scull’s 'roommate'" among other insults, which you can read about over at The Bay Area Blog.

Greene claims he was subjected to repeated incidents of disrespect, amounting to what appears to be a distinct lack of an ally within the local government, despite his status as executor of Greene's estate.

"Even here, where they had filled out legal documents, because their relationship is so thoroughly invisible and disrespected, it didn’t protect them,” said Shannon Minter, of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Comments

From NCLR's full press release, it does appear something went wrong with protecting Mr. Clay's property. It appears, however, that this case is more likely an elder advocacy/rights problem than one about homosexual "rights. NCLR completely ignores the fact that this alleged couple of 20 years never became legal domestic partners. Thus, suggesting, as NCLR's press release does, that this case is a reason to redefine marriage in California is untenable.